An executive hired last year by Cleveland Clinic Innovations was faulted for destroying documents, misusing public funds for personal expenses and creating an uncomfortable work environment by having an office romance in his previous job at a Kansas economic development group, according to a recently released audit by the state of Kansas.
However, the $960,000, 900-page audit found that the Kansas Bioscience Authority made sound investments with taxpayer dollars during the tenure of former CEO Tom Thornton, who holds the title of general manager of strategic alliances with Cleveland Clinic Innovations, several Kansas media outlets reported.
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Thornton resigned from the Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) last April and started with the Clinic almost immediately thereafter. In the wake of his departure, Kansas legislators questioned everything from Thornton’s exit and the way he managed the Kansas organization to the relationship between Thornton and business partners in Ohio — so this controversy is nothing new.
The audit found that Thornton misled the KBA board about a trip he took to Cleveland to interview for the job with the Clinic, but he eventually reimbursed the agency for the cost of the plane ticket. One Kansas government official said the audit suggests that intellectual property belonging to the KBA was taken by Thornton to his new job in Cleveland, the Associated Press reported.
The media outlets reported that Thornton hasn’t returned calls.
The audit of the KBA came about after Kansas lawmakers and Gov. Sam Brownback’s office made accusations of potential fiscal mismanagement and conflicts of interest at the agency. The KBA was created in 2004 to oversee $581 million in tax dollars to build the state’s bioscience industry, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.
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The good news for Thornton is that several Kansas lawmakers criticized the cost of the audit and said it was time to move on, a sentiment that Cleveland Clinic and Thornton would surely agree with.
“It was a $960,000 witch hunt, essentially, to uncover, what, was it 4,800 bucks total?” said one legislator, who was referencing the amount ($4,800) that Thornton spent on a plane ticket and artwork for his office, for which he later reimbursed the state.
